eddy8men

don't worry fella's nothing will get scrapped, some stuff will get swapped or re used but definately not scrapped. engine decks and hatches freed up and ready for removing. the cromwell back deck has been designed to come off as one complete assembly leaving the hole engine and transmission bay open which makes working on it a lot easier.

hi adrian i'm looking forward to that day when i can start it up and drive off into the sunset but it won't be for a while yet. in the meantime i'll be at w&p with the carrier and i'll join you for half a shandy sometime:D turret and basket coming off, less charioteer and more cromwell with each nut and bolt that is removed

jack i'll second that, i don't think anyone would want you to pay for the rest of us out your own pocket especially as it's your gig and you thought it up. if anything we should be subbing you. rick

bloody good question it would have been a damn site easier and cheaper and i have to admit it's not a bad looking tank but my passion is ww2 british armour and my intention is to raise awareness of british tanks and thereby the men that served in them so it's ww2 or nothing. not an easy task but worth while in my opinion. rick

well done mate, it must be nice to get your hands on it at last. good luck with the resto and i'll see you at ponderosa. rick

as some of you know late last year i bought a charioteer and a centaur with a view to making one good cromwell from the 2. the tanks finally arrived at bob grundy's yard in ashton in makerfield in late december but due to the weather being so bad nothing much happened until march when bob came out of hibernation (sorry bob couldn't resist it). once things got going it really came together or should i say came apart really quickly, the turret and ring were removed as was some of the top decking and engine covers, then all the engine compartment was stripped and the mk1a meteor was sent off for a partial rebuild to a fella in carlisle that specializes in rr aero engines, the engine is now running and ready for installation when it's turn comes, the gearbox was in great condition and only needed a blast and respray aswell as new seals in the slave cylinders, the rads are out and have been restored so that pretty much means we are ready to start installing the assemblies back into the hull. the plan is to get it running and driving under it's own steam and attend to any niggles while the armour and turret is off and once bob is satisfied we'll start the turret rebuild and refitting at which point it should look like a cromwell and i for one will be a happy bunny. due to the fact that i should have started this thread about 3 months ago i've a lot of pics to post so i'll post a few up every night until we're up to date on it all. all the best rick pics are the charioteer and centaur at the farm awaiting collection to bob's yard

nice to see it coming along mate

cromwell restorations well on the way, just had the engine rebuilt and it sounds great so you can count on it being there along with the carrier, as for the road run on sunday i don't think you'll have any worries about the tanks going for a second day as most guys will want to get some use out of them as it's an awfully long way to go for a days drive ! looking forward to meeting everyone down there all the best rick

i'm sure the curator would be open to cash offers :-D

there doesn't seem to be many ww2 vehicles in the north west, which is something that i mean to rectify :-D

i was just thinking the same thing paul have you got or can get a grid reference on those wrecks and can you remember where they were exactly with regard to some obvious feature ie. sw corner of car park, 100m from road bridge. basically anything that will narrow the search down to a more specific location. cheers eddy

i see you've fitted the 2 speed achilles gearbox, stop and fast nice driving :cool2:

congratulations, a good start into thew world of mv's good luck with the resto eddy

no he's definately serious, i have no doubt of that but whether he is correct or not i won't know until we dig it up but that's all taken care of and the dig should be done in august after the crop is out of the field, what's more if it does turn out to be a dump then the farmer has agreed to let me have the field for as long as i like eddy

don't take it personally i just think most guys have got their storage already sorted out but thanks for the offer eddy

it's mind boggling to think of the forces involved when a tracked vehicle is moving at speed, as the track in contact with the ground is doing 0 mph while the top run is doing twice the road speed, so if a tank road speed is 60 mph then the top run of track is doing 120 mph:wow:

hi john i'll be there with the carrier and possibly the cromwell if it's ready by then and you're more than welcome to film either, i think it's a great idea to give an insight into the inner workings of a tank, it's not often you get to see the interior which is odd as i think it's the most interesting bit. rick

bulldog 21.3bhp/ton chaffee 16.09bhp/ton cromwell 21.4bhp/ton:-D

i'll have a word if you like, i think peter the mechanic possibly has one for sale and i know he does a bit of work for the tractor pulling guys so there might be an engine going spare from those lunatics aswell :cool2:

i took my mk1a meteor from the charioteer up to a guy in carlisle on tuesday to give it a good going over. the fella's workshop must have had 10 merlins and meteors aswell as griffons all in various states of repair, a real petrol heads dream

the airfield dig thread that turned really bitchy on warrelics and me and the guy that started it decided to end the thread, although calling everyone a bunch of idiots and saying it was all make believe was not my idea but that's what he posted so the thread got closed and we're still investigating the 2 large trenches full of yank vehicles and another one probably full of parts but before anyone gets too excited nothing has been confirmed yet as we're still waiting for some geofizz which is why i want to crack on and do it myself with a mine detector or something else cheap eddy

hey dave working on your tan and playing at the same time, now that really is living the dream clive i'll be looking on land, i've had a tip off about buried yank vehicles on an old airbase which are apparently 5 ft down and i also got chatting to an old boy that knows the location of a halifax crash site above glossop which he helped to clear when he was a lad but he told me 3 of the engines where left behind in the peat bog, which is worth looking into as it's only 5 miles away. eddy

NOS carrier track and rocking horse sh1t are on a par with each other with regard to availability

hi dave nice finds you've got there, shame you didn't find any b24 liberators (yet):cool2:

man !!! i'd have to sell one of my tanks to buy that radar kit, infact make that 2 of my tanks :wow:, think i'll try the mine detector for a £100 first, i'll let you know if it comes up trumps. cheers eddy